News

Softball teams that win five of six to open the season rarely take comfort in moral victories.

But
Columbia Basin came take some solace after Sunday’s 8-0 and 8-7
pre-regional losses to Mt. Hood in Pasco. The one-run loss marked just
the third time in 10 games the third-ranked and unbeaten Saints have won
by fewer than eight runs.

“We played them well,” said CBC coach
Adrian Ochoa. “They scored 28 runs and had 40 hits vs. Walla Walla (on
Saturday), so to hold them the way we did today, I’m proud of our
pitching and our defense.”

The Hawks (5-3) also could be proud of
how they opened the weekend, sweeping defending NWAACC champion and
preseason No. 1 Clackamas 4-3 and 7-4 on Saturday.

Ashlen Ayres
bases-clearing double in the fourth inning of the opener helped CBC
rally from a 3-1 deficit, and pitcher Brenda Rodriguez closed with three
shutout innings.

Ayres and Maddie Chambers each hit two-run homers in the second game, and Gabby Meza went the distance in the circle.

“It was a huge opening day at home for us to take two from the NWAACC champions,” Ochoa said.

On
Sunday, Bailey Walthers went 3-for-4 and JoAnna Quezada homered to
power the Hawks in the finale. But Mt. Hood pushed across the winning
run in the top of the seventh with a two-out single to complete the
sweep.

CBC overcame some serious adversity in the game, losing
Chambers to an injury early in the game (she’s expected back this
weekend) and falling in a four-run hole.

The Hawks rallied in the
bottom of the sixth to pull even. Quezada and Lacey Padilla led off with
singles and came around on RBI hits from Walthers and Ayres. They in
turn scored on Caitlyn Stevens single.

In the opener, Rodriguez
posted three shutout innings before Mt. Hood slugger Maycee Abendschein
belted a two-run home run in the fourth. The Saints went deep four times
on the day, two by Abendschein.

The Hawks are off until next weekend, when Everett and Southwestern Oregon come to town for doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.